Lonely hearts scam uses identity of Australia's top military officer to con women out of money

When Anna Linden’s online friendship with a handsome Australian general blossomed into romance, she thought she had finally met someone special.

The 54-year-old waitress from Aachen in Germany was initially surprised when “Mark Binskin” added her as a friend on Facebook. But he explained, in German, that he was lonely – serving in Kabul, soon to retire, having been single for eight years. It was only when he asked for €300 ($438) for a plane ticket, which he said he would repay by selling 11 pounds of gold, that she grew suspicious.

To her disappointment, her professed lover was using the identity of Air Marshall Mark Binskin, 54, the married former head of the Australian Air Force, who next week will take up his role as chief of the Australian Defence Force. “I knew [the fraudster] would just keep asking for more money,” Miss Linden told The Sydney Morning Herald – having previously fallen victim to a similar scam, in which she lost euros 8,000. She said she knew of other women in Germany and other countries who had been approached by the Binskin impersonator.

An Australian defence spokesman said the department had not been aware that the nation’s new top military officer’s identity was being used to target lonely hearts, but an investigation had been started.